The Tour and You

[iacas]

From

yeah, you guessed it comes this:

The one factor Tim and the geniuses who run the PGA Tour seem to have forgotten is that NOBODY CARES ABOUT WHO WINS THE FEDEX CUP or any other tournament for that matter. I have yet to meet one person who gives a &%$# about who wins the Charles Schwab Cup, and at least 9 out of 10 people have no idea what I'm talking about when I ask them. Golf ratings are down because none of us can relate to anything we see on the TV. It is BORING to see nothing but drivers and wedges, and to hear about who hits the ball a mile when I (and most players) are happy to hit one 225 yards! Golf is in for a BIG fall as it moves in the current direction, and I think the new proposal is the roadmap to disaster.

Though I disagree about "nobody" simply because he uses a 100% thing (and, y'know, he's speculating... and I certainly care about who wins The Masters, for example, so... that ruins it right there), I'll concede that perhaps people won't care a ton for the FedEx Cup.

But then he gets into this whole thing about how far people hit the ball. Again. I don't know about you, but I don't think I could step into a blitzing 290-lb linebacker who runs a 4.3 40 and deliver a bullet 35 yards down-field to double-covered receiver running a flag route. And I know that football doesn't lose any luster in my eye because I can't do that. Golf, to me, more than any other sport in the world, allows fans to get closer to their idols than any other sport. Not just in real world (i.e. galleries), but in playing the game. Sure, you may not bomb one out there 350 at Harding Park, but you could play the course and hit a great drive. Or make a 40-foot putt to win a nassau, just like Tiger made that big putt that one time... Or hit a flop shot that finds the hole from no-man's land... or... or... Part of the reason we're so close is because we can play the same darn equipment. There's no "yeah, but try that with a Tour ball" or anything. The same game, the same equipment, and the same playing conditions. Me? I'm in awe of Tiger hitting the drives. I'm in awe of his 120+ MPH clubhead speed.

[Donald MacKenzie]

Erik, I'm with you on this one. It cracks me up to hear about the supposed driver-wedge monotony on tour. Uh, what about back in the Days Before Technology? It isn't like Jack and Arnie were bunting it 225 down the fairway before hitting 2-iron into every green. What's Arnie's signature moment? Driving the par-4 first green at the 1960 U.S. Open, 350 yards (at altitude, but still quite a poke). What was Jack known for? Big drives and clutch putts (see Woods, Tiger for similarities). Hogan, Snead, Watson, Hagen ... many of the top players through history have been long off the tee. Not everyone used to be Gene Sarazen and Paul Runyan. Would anyone really enjoy golf more if Tiger was hitting it 225 off the tee? Who cares? The game is won or lost on the greens.

Could I field a screaming liner while playing third base for the Tigers? Possibly, but there's no way to really know. My co-ed softball league isn't really comparable. But can I stand on the 17th tee at Pebble Beach and try hitting a long iron into the wind? Yep. Do I expect that I would be hitting the same club as any touring pro? Nope. Would I expect a club pro or scratch amateur to play a course differently than I do? Of course. So when Tiger (or Dicky Pride, or anyone else) gets home in two on a 550-yard par-5 with driver/8-iron, I don't see that as monotony. I see that as a freak of nature being able to do something I could only do on my best day. And, golf being aspirational, it makes me want to grab my sticks and go see what I can do.

One more thing about Shackleford's original point. He fails to deliniate between TV Golf and Real Golf. TV Golf is the PGA Tour, Champions Tour, LPGA Tour, et al. This is all about viewership, sponsorship and selling stuff on PGATour.com. Will a race-to-the-finish format help TV Golf? Will the style of play in vogue (smash and scrape) help or hurt ratings? We'll see. But Shackleford makes it sound like the future of Real Golf--what's played at munis and private courses every day by real golfers, often at the expense of watching golf on TV--is somehow in the balance. It isn't. Real golf is where more technology is welcome. The Tour? Whatever. I say the genie's out of the bottle, and rolling things back stagnates the game. But for the rest of us, don't use Tim Finchem's schedule and TV ratings to justify imposing even more equipment limitations.

[NCGolfer]

I don't think that this person is in reality when he even considers that NOBODY cares who wins a golf tournament...and that he really isn't a fan of the game of golf.

Do I think that it's crazy that Tiger can hit the ball the way he does? Absolutely...but I'm more amazed at how he swings than what he has in his hand. How long was Tiger playing with his old Titleist PT 3-wood? I remember having that same club back in college over 10 years ago and couldn't hit it nearly as far even with a Rock Flite. It's exactly as Erik says...I'm in absolute awe of Tiger's swing. Standing behind him at the Wachovia earlier this year, I have never witnessed anyone make a pass at the ball like him. Not even hammerin' Hank Keuhne.

I'll never support any sort of initiative that tries to separate the tour players equipment from ours (amateurs). That is the #1 connection between the two...I don't care about hats, shirts or even shoes...it's all about the clubs and balls. Geoff talks at length about how much it costs golfers to play nowadays, well I would bet those costs would go up considerably if we had 'amateur' equipment and 'pro' equipment. I'd want to have both because I want to know how I stack up against the big boys, but at the same time I like to play in amateur tournements. My costs just doubled.

Sigh.

Well, all I know is that I can't wait to see the Masters next year...and I will care who wins. So will millions of others. You're all SOMEBODY to me.